This week I participated in a "Quickfire Challenge", an experience unique to the Michigan State University Master of Arts in Educational Technology program. I was given three random tools, a set timeframe, and a challenge to accomplish.
It was an experience that I instantly connected to real life. Limited resources being bent to my will to accomplish a task they were not intended to do in an unrealistic time frame. It began to trigger negative memories from our first COVID shutdowns in March of 2020. Check out the video below to see how it went.
As I reflected on this experience, that old saying that says "Don't put the cart before the horse." came to mind. In the ed tech world this would translate to "don't put the technology before the learning." Schools are famous for failed technology implementation. Questions began to stream through my head like snowflakes in a snowstorm. What if the real problem is deeper than simply a lack of consideration? What if the real problem is systemic and schools have no idea what needs to be considered when implementing technology in the classroom? Furthermore, how can we, the ed tech specialists, help overcome this incredible challenge?
As educators often do, I turned to the experts and learned about a framework to support schools implementing technology. In their Keynote Address (2008) Dr. Matthew Koehler and Dr. Punya Mishra explored major areas to consider when implementing technology in education. They named their system theTechnological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (TPACK). I sat through their 45 minute keynote video (Link to Keynote Recording) pointing at the screen shouting in agreement the whole time. Dr. Koehler and Dr. Mishra even surrounded their framework within the ever present context of the learning environment. This honors Winner (1980) where he postulates that some artifacts, in this case technology, can have power and authority over society and failing to consider this may have consequences (intentionally or unintentionally). Here we are over 40 years later dealing with the consequences of failing to consider the politics of technology as it continues to shape the individual learning environments our students experience. The TPACK Framework gives us an opportunity to guide educators as they work to implement technology successfully in their classrooms.
References:
Winner, L. (1980). Do artifacts have politics? Daedalus, 109(1), 121-136. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/stable/20024652
[Video]: Chad Riffle. (2021, January). CEP810 Quickfire for Chad Riffle. Video. YouTube. https://youtu.be/2eUkx1peKTo
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